Connor and Imogen - Strength
by comogen
Summary: A story following Connor and Imogen's life after marriage. They will be tested, but will their relationship survive?
1. 1 - The New Couple

Connor and Imogen - Strength

_It was a cold day, and the streets of Greenock were filled with grumpy teenagers traipsing to school after a much-needed week off. Most of the students had spent it revising or partying, except for two sixth formers. Connor and Imogen got married on the day the school broke up, and had spent the entire week together at Connor's house while Christine and Michael were spending the week in Paris._

Connor and Imogen walked down the street, staring into each other's eyes and smiling non-stop. Imogen couldn't believe she'd done it, this time last year she didn't even know Connor and now he was her husband. _Weird_, she thought. She was certain however that she had made the right decision, and intended to keep the marriage secret from her mother for as long as possible.

Connor was over the moon. That had been the best week of his life, and he hadn't thought about starting a fire once. He did struggle some mornings, waking up and seeing Imogen's scar in front of him, but then he would look down and see the ring on her finger, and remember that she was happy now, and they were together.

They walked into the foyer, hand in hand, when Dynasty shuffled over to Imogen in her ridiculously high heels, and gave her a hug.

"Did you two have a good week?" She asked in her unmistakable Liverpool accent.

"Keep it down, Dyn. I wasn't supposed to be at Connor's house remember?" Imogen replied, laughing at her best friend.

"Yeah, if Mum finds out she'll kill me" Connor added, and gave Imogen a kiss on the cheek.

"Whatever Mum does do though, she can't stop us from being together anymore. We're married, and will be together forever."

"Ew, that's cheesy" Dynasty said, nudging Imogen. "You two are cute together though, and if there's anything I can do to help, just say."

"Thanks, well just to let you know that if my Mum asks, I spent all last week at your house, ok?" Imogen whispered. "Oh, and don't tell anyone about the wedding, yeah?"

"I'd never do that to you guys. I'm great with secrets!" Dynasty winked.

"Come then, we better get to registration…. Mrs Mulgrew!" Connor smiled and they walked off together.


	2. 2 - Talking

Imogen sat in registration admiring her ring. She'd never seen anything more beautiful in her life, apart from her boyfriend, of course.

The day went extremely quickly, Imogen was in all the same lessons as Connor, which made school seem a lot easier.

They agreed to meet up again after school, not wanting to be apart for a minute.

_Well, we are married. We should be spending as much time together as possible. _Imogen thought when Dynasty told Imogen her she should have a break from being with Connor 24/7.

They met at the bench in the woods, and looking at Connor, Imogen could tell he had been crying. "Hey, what's up?" Imogen asked, concerned for her husband.

"It's Mum"

"Have you had another fight with her Con? What was it about? Wait… it wasn't about this was it?!" Imogen pointed at her ring, panicking at the thought of their secret being exposed.

"No, it's not about that... Mum just told me that me and her are going to move into Michael's flat."

Imogen let out a giggle.

"It's not funny!" He said. "I don't want to move!"

"Aw, I know Connor, but can you imagine.. you're going to be living with the head teacher! Awkward!" Imogen teased him.

Connor groaned and put his head in his hands. "How am I going to live with him? I hate him! I suppose all that matters is that he makes mum happy though."

"Aw yeah, you should be pleased for her. It will be so weird coming round to visit you at Mr Byrne's house! If he marries you're Mum will he be my stepfather-in-law? I don't fancy being related to the head to be honest!"

Connor laughed, and sat there cuddling Imogen for about an hour, until she fell asleep in his arms. _I love you, so much._


	3. 3 - New home, new rules

**AN: Sorry these first few chapters are a bit boring, but they will get better I promise!**

**Also, anything in italics are characters thoughts**.

It was a Saturday morning 2 weeks later, and it was a big day for Connor. Today, he was moving into Michael's house. It had taken a lot of persuading from Christine, but Connor had reluctantly agreed to go. He decided that it was probably good that Michael would be there all the time to stop his mum from drinking.

Carrying a box full of his stuff from his old room, he walked through the front door. He looked around. _This place is kind of creepy,_ he thought.

"Connor, let me show you to your room, just up the stairs and through here" Michael said gesturing towards a wooden door. Connor opened it. _Jesus, this is huge. _

"Well, I'll leave you to unpack your stuff" Michael continued as he walked downstairs with Christine.

Connor slid out his phone from his pocket and texted Imogen:

**Just got here, this place is massive! We still meeting up at 2? **

He moved over to the wardrobe and started to hang up some of his clothes when he felt his phone vibrate.

**Imogen: Hope you like the new house! You can tell me all about it later. See you at 2. **

Connor put his phone back in his pocket as he heard his mum call from the living room,

"Connor! Can you come down here for a minute please?" He sighed and walked downstairs, still taking in the size of his new house.

"Hi Son, we just wanted to talk to you about some of the rules you'll have to follow now that you're living with Michael."

"Erm, ok..." Connor replied, hoping that it wouldn't be anything to bad.

"Well it's pretty much just no smoking, no drugs and no girls. Stick to that and you wont get grounded once"

"Girls?" Connor asked

"Well, I mean no Imogen obviously." Christine said.

"You what? She was always allowed round at our old house" Connor shouted.

"Sorry Connor" Michael interrupted, "I'm just not sure it would be entirely appropriate having one of my school pupils - a girl, especially - at my house"

"Appropriate? She's my girlfriend for gods sake!"

Connor's heart missed a beat as he realized he had nearly said wife, but his mouth came out with girlfriend. Phew.

"Listen Connor" Christine said, a hint of anger in her voice, "This is Michael's house, and while you're living here you will follow his rules, ok? And if Michael doesn't think it would be appropriate for Imogen to come round, she's not going to be coming round. You see enough of that girl as it is."

_I thought you'd finally accepted Imogen and me now mum. Why are you being like this? I hate you._

Connor stormed off back to his bedroom, picked up his phone and wallet, and stormed back downstairs and left, slamming the front door shut behind him.

He was sat at a coffee shop in the town. He had got there about an hour early as he needed something to do since he had left Michael's house, and was delighted to see Imogen walk in. He kissed her passionately when she sat down next to him, wanting her to know how much he loved her.

"Wow" Imogen giggled, "What was all that about?"

"Just saying hello to my gorgeous wife."

"So, come on then, what's it like living with Michael? I can't wait to come round and see it!"

Connor looked down.

"What is it Con?"

"Mum said just before I left that you aren't allowed to come over anymore."

"What? Why?"

"Because it would be 'Inappropriate' having you at the house according to Mr Byrne. I hate him! I don't want to live with him." Connor said, regretting agreeing to move house.

"How are we going to be able to spend time with each other? You can't come round mine, Mum doesn't even know we're back together yet!"

"Well," Connor looked up with a smile on his face, "Looks like I'm just going to have to sneak you in."


	4. 4 - Time together

Thy day had finally arrived. It had been 3 weeks since Connor had moved in with Michael, and for 3 weeks Connor hadn't spent anytime alone with Imogen. They had been planning this day ever since they met up at the café, and although it was risky, they decided it would be worth it if they managed to spend the night together.

Connor lay in bed, smiling to himself while thinking of how amazing the night was going to be. Him and Imogen had chosen tonight because the waterloo road teachers were going on a trip to London to have a weekend away, arranged by Lorraine as she thought it would be nice for the teachers to have a break, and it was the perfect opportunity for Connor and Imogen to see each other seeing as Christine and Michael wouldn't be there to stop them.

Grantly and Maggie weren't going on the trip however, and all of the teacher's offspring were meant to be staying at the schoolhouse. Seeing as Kevin was going to be there, Connor asked him to cover for him hoping that Kevin would think of an adequate excuse to tell everyone, which would explain why he wasn't there.

"Right then Connor, are you sure you don't want a lift to the school house? I mean you don't have a lot of stuff in your bag but it is cold outside son." Christine said.

"No, I'll be fine, it's only a 5 minute walk" Connor replied.

"Okay well me and Michael are leaving in about 20 minutes, I hope you have a nice weekend son."

"You too" Connor said and gave his Mum a hug as he walked out of the front door and turned left. He got about half way to the schoolhouse, and sat down on a bench looking at his watch. He waited for about forty minutes, just to make sure that they would be gone, and then walked back to his house. He unlocked the front door, chucked his bag on the floor and called Imogen to tell her she could come round.

She came around about 10 minutes later with her bags, and as soon as she saw her husband, they passionately kissed for what felt like forever. She smiled up at him, knowing that tonight was going to be perfect. They hadn't spent enough time together as husband and wife apart from the week after they got married.

Imogen unpacked her stuff in Connors room, and they cuddled up on the sofa to watch a horror film. It was just as perfect as they had imagined. No adults. No annoying friends. Just them.

Half way through the film, Connor started conversation as he felt they needed something to talk about.

"One day it will always be like this. After we've finished university, me and you can move in together."

"Well duh, Connor. That's what married couples are supposed to do. I'd like us to be living together now to be honest but we wouldn't be able to tell anyone that we were married… and last time we tried running off together in secret it didn't exactly end well." Imogen replied, pointing to her scar.

"I know… it's just I hate not being able to see you all the time. It's strange isn't it, most couples our age would be sat here planning their future, and when they would be getting married. Weird to think that we already are."

"Not weird, Connor. We did it because we're in love, and we know that we want to spend the rest of our lives together. Doesn't mean we can't still plan the future though. Do you want to chat about it?" Imogen giggled.

"Well," Connor laughed, "I suppose it would be nice to have some sort of idea what we'll be doing for the rest of our lives."

Imogen yawned.

"I'm getting tired, let's talk in bed."

They changed into their pajamas and cuddled up under the duvet.

"So" Imogen started "After we've moved in together after university, what are we going to do then?"

"I don't know" Connor replied. "I suppose we'll have to get jobs. Any clue what you want to do when you're older?"

"Hmm, not sure really. I think you'd suit being a firefighter though!" Imogen laughed.

"Shut up!" Connor laughed and Imogen squealed as he tickled her. They kissed again, and Imogen looked straight at Connor.

"Con… about the future… do you think we'll ever have kids?"

"Yeah, of course, one day… it would be nice to start a family. But not until we're 25 or something. Why?"

Imogen sighed with relief.

"Phew… sorry Connor it's just I was talking to Kevin the other day and he said that you told him how much you want to be a dad… and I was worried you wanted to have a kid now but I don't feel ready to be a mum."

Connor squeezed Imogen.

"Don't worry about it. I'm not ready either. We'll have a family in a few years, but for now all we need is each other."

They fell asleep in each other's arms.

"Oh my god!" Imogen shook Connor to wake him up.

"What?" Connor mumbled sleepily,

"Imogen it's 1 in the morning, go back to sleep."

"Wake up Connor! I think we're being burgled!"

"Shit" Connor said, and him and Imogen got up and went to the bedroom door to listen to what was happening.

They could hear the front door close and Connor could faintly hear voices.

"Well that was a let down." He heard someone say.

"Yeah, well I blame that Sonya woman for not organizing the trip well enough!" Oh no. He recognized that voice. That was his Mum.

"Oh my god!" Connor whispered to Imogen "Mum and Michael are back!"

Imogen gasped, knowing what would happen if they got found out.

"We are going to be in so much trouble!" Imogen whispered.

"What the hell are we going to do?" Connor asked, and then heard the voices from downstairs shouting

"What's happened to the kitchen? Why is there food everywhere?"

_There is no way we are going to get out of this now. Everything is ruined._


	5. 5 - Reactions

Downstairs, a baffled Michael and Christine were starting to think that they had been burgled. Then Christine spotted something on the side.

"Look, Michael" She said while pointing to the kitchen table.

"Connor's mobile phone."

"Why the hell is he here?" Michael said, infuriated.

"Shouldn't he be in the schoolhouse?"

Christine and Michael stormed up the stairs to find Connor; meanwhile Imogen was lying under Connor's duvet and trying not to breathe, hoping that she wouldn't be seen.

Christine flung Connor's bedroom door open and saw the teenager sitting at his desk reading a book.

"Connor Mulgrew, what the hell do you think you're doing here?" Christine shouted.

"I live here now Mum, remember?" Connor replied cockily.

"Why aren't you at the school house?" Christine tried to speak calmly although she was becoming infuriated.

"Didn't particularly want to be there."

"You are in so much trouble young man. And why exactly couldn't you stay with Kevin and that lot? Could you just not face being away from your precious little girlfriend? Oh, I get it. You've gone out to see her today have you? Well I'm telling you Connor I do not want you near that girl anymore. She is nothing but a bad influence on you."

Connor stood up.

"You know what Mum? You're the worst person I've ever met. Imogen is my everything ok. And that's why we needed some time alone together." And with this, he pulled the duvet off his bed and Imogen got out and gripped onto Connor's hand.

"What is she doing here?" Michael now followed Christine in. We told you Connor, she isn't allowed here." Michael didn't seem to bothered and remained calm, but Christine flipped out.

"Get her out!" She yelled. Michael looked confused.

"Christine I know we said she wasn't allowed over, but I do think you're over reacting."

"No…. Michael you don't understand. I don't want them seeing each other at all." A tear filled Christine's eye.

"Because they're engaged. I found out a few weeks ago. I don't want anyone taking my little boy away from me."

Connor and Imogen exchanged glances. Before Imogen could apologize to Michael for coming round, Connor had had enough.

"Shut up Mum! Don't try and act like you love me, 'cos all the times I've needed you most in life you haven't been there for me. You've been passed out on the sofa with a bottle of vodka in your hands."

"That's not fair, son! Ok, I might have been a bad mother at times but I still love you!"

"Uh, save it mum. And you know what, me and Imogen have something to tell you." He looked at Imogen, breathed in heavily and looked at Christine.

"On the last day of term, me and Imogen got married. We only had a small do in a registry office with three guests, but to me, it was the best day of my life."

Now Imogen could feel tears pricking her eyes. _I love this man, so much._

Christine stayed silent for a moment. She looked upset, but then that emotion turned to rage.

"GET OUT!" She screamed. She pushed Imogen out of the door and dragged her down the stairs.

"Mrs Mulgrew, please…" Imogen started, but Christine wasn't listening.

"You stay away from my son!" Christine shouted at her.

Upstairs, Connor rushed around his room, chucking most of his possessions into a bag. He pushed past Michael and ran downstairs to see Christine throwing an upset Imogen out of the front door.

Connor didn't even say goodbye to his Mum. He ran out of the front door to check that Imogen was ok, and together they ran off down the street. They ran for about 10 seconds when Connor heard Christine shout for him from his house. He wasn't going to talk to her. He hated her. He only loved one person, and that was Imogen.


	6. 6 - Carry me

They made it to the woods nearby, their secret hideout. Connor could see Imogen was shivering so he took a jacket out of his bag and put it around her, and then held her in a warm embrace.

They cuddled for what felt like forever, and Imogen spoke up.

"Why will no one accept us Connor?" Imogen sniffed, her face red from all the tears.

"I don't know Im." He turned to face her in the dark.

"All I know is that we don't need anyone else. Me and you need to be together… we need to move in together."

Imogen looked up at him.

"I know we do… but how are we going to be able to do that? We have no money!"

"Well I was thinking… If we told your mum, and we were really nice to her, then she might be able to lend us some?"

Imogen sat up.

"Crap! I forgot about Mum! What if your Mum tells her about us being married? She's going to kill me."

"Forget about her Im! From now on we only need each other." Connor whispered into her hair.

Imogen smiled. She was extremely worried about her mum finding out, but Connor just made her feel better. All he had to do was speak and his voice calmed her down. She fell asleep in his arms again, and when they woke up, it was gone 10 o'clock. Imogen checked her phone. 17 missed calls from Mum. _Great._

"Connor, I'm starving." Imogen sat up and looked expectantly at her boyfriend. Even first thing in the morning she still looked gorgeous.

They had been sleeping outside all night with a blanket and a cushion between both of them. Connor had nearly frozen to death, and decided that he needed to go somewhere warmer with Imogen.

"Come on, then." He said sleepily.

"We'll go out and buy some breakfast."

"Are you nuts?" Imogen laughed.

"I look a state, there's no way I'm going out like this."

"Come on! He laughed; he left the blanket on the floor, put his wallet in his pocket, and picked Imogen up and put her over his shoulder.

"Put me down!" she screamed while laughing.

"Only if you ask nicely!" He said, and carried her out of the woods and into the town.

Minutes later, they arrived at a café. He put Imogen down and kissed her.

"God, you're strong for someone so skinny!" She laughed.

"I know!" Connor replied. "And you eating all those cakes over Easter didn't help the situation!" He teased.

"Oi!" Imogen giggled and punched him on the arm.

"Enjoying married life, are we?" A voice spoke from behind them. Imogen and Connor turned round simultaneously and were horrified to see Christine sat at a table by herself.

"L-listen Mum, we need to talk." Connor stuttered.

"Talk?" Christine laughed.

"Talk about what? Talk about the fact that my only son went behind my back and got married, despite the fact that I had specifically told you not to spend any time with that tart."

Imogen was fed up of being hated so much by Christine. She snapped.

"Why can't you just accept the fact that me and Connor are happy together? I'm not a bad person Christine, and I'm not going to hurt your son. I love him."

"Yeah, right." Christine stood up to leave, when she heard a smash on the ground. Connor looked down and couldn't believe what he saw. A bottle of Vodka. He looked from the bottle up to his mum, and could see that she'd been drinking again. _She promised. She promised that she would stay sober and look after me. She promised. She lied._


	7. 7 - Sally's reaction

Christine looked at her son.

"Well what did you expect eh? You, going behind my back and marrying her, and now even Michael doesn't want me. The drink makes everything seem ok."

Imogen knew how this must feel for Connor, all the times that Christine had been drunk before, he would always confide in her. Imogen was the one who held him in her arms while he cried like a child about how much his mum hated him; Imogen was the one that would always cheer him up; and most importantly, Imogen was the one that was there for him when Christine wasn't. As she looked up at Connor, she could see tears starting to form in his eyes. He turned around and left the café. Imogen was about to run after him when Christine drunkly mumbled,

"He doesn't love you. He only married you because he felt guilty about…" Christine's words started to slur, she hadn't drunk in a long time and the alcohol was having a bad effect on her behaviour.

As much as Imogen wanted to stay there and argue with Christine, to aimlessly try and prove that her and Connor were perfect together, she knew what Connor's next action would be. Whenever he was upset about something, he would normally turn to the matches.

Imogen ran out of the café, and couldn't see him anywhere.

"Connor!" She shouted desperately, and saw a figure in the distance.

"Connor where are you going?" She shouted, running after him.

After she caught up with him, he turned around and looked straight at Imogen.

"I'm sorry Imogen… but I'm going to your house. I need to tell your Mum about the marriage. If my Mum can't be happy for us, and your Mum isn't either, then there's no point in us staying here."

"But Connor, there's no way my mum's going to be happy for us!"

"Let's just see what she says, yeah? And if she isn't happy, then we'll think of something."

Imogen was not at all happy with this plan, this was not how she had wanted to tell her mum about the marriage. But Connor seemed very persistent, and Imogen knew that there was no point in trying to talk him out of it. When they arrived at the house, Imogen was petrified. She knew how her mother would react, and knew that she would quite possibly end up never speaking to her again. _As long as I have Connor, it will all be ok._

Sally opened the door, looking surprisingly good for someone who had obviously just got out of bed.

"What the hell is he doing here?" She asked Imogen. Before Imogen could say anything, Connor spoke up.

"I don't care what you think about this Sally, but me and Imogen started going out again after the fire.

He took a deep breath in.

"Then, we got married." He said, and showed Imogen's hand to sally.

Sally looked at the ring, and then to Imogen.

"Is this some kind of joke?"

"I'm sorry Mum, I wanted to tell you but…"

"Wait, so you married some schoolboy who set fire to your face? You're seventeen years old… I… what even…" Sally stuttered, not knowing how to react. Funnily enough she ended up reacting the same way as Christine, and 5 minutes later Sally was throwing Imogen's clothes and possessions outside shouting the odds.

"Please Mum, just listen to what we have to say..."

"No way. I never want to speak to you, or your pathetic excuse of a husband." And with that, Sally slammed the front door shut, leaving Imogen and Connor out in the cold.

"Well that went well." Connor said, trying to make light of the situation.

"What now?" Imogen asked, looking around at the pile of clothes and CD's, which were currently occupying her front garden.

"Now…" Connor said looking down to his wife.

"Now it's time for us to get out of here, and find somewhere to live… together."


	8. 8 - Chalky's flat

Connor and Imogen slept at Dynasty's house that night, as Carol was away with Kacey, and Barry had gone out, leaving Dynasty with a free house. They came downstairs to see Dynasty in the morning, and were surprised to see Kevin sitting on the sofa.

"What are you doing here?" Asked Connor taking a seat next to Kevin.

Dynasty entered with 4 cups of tea on a tray.

"He's here because we all need to have a chat. We don't want you two ending up homeless, and we need to help you settle down somewhere."

"Well we have no money and no jobs. It's unlikely that we're going to be able to find anywhere that will take us for free." Connor replied.

"What about the school house?" Kevin suggested.

"It would be really good to have some friends living with me. It can get lonely there…"

"My heart bleeds for you." Imogen laughed

"But me and Connor want somewhere to live as husband and wife. I doubt we would even be allowed to sleep in the same room at the school house."

Dynasty looked at Kevin.

"What about Chalky's flat? You know, we're the only people using it at the moment and it wouldn't hurt to let Connor and Imogen live there. It would be perfect for them!"

"Yeah but what would Chalky say if he found out? We could get in serious trouble." Connor replied.

"Well he's in London at his new job, and as far as I know he isn't visiting Scotland anytime soon." Kevin said.

"You've got the key, right?" Dynasty asked.

"Yeah, it's in my pocket… do you two want to go and have a look round?" Kevin asked Connor and Imogen.

"Sure." Said Connor. Imogen looked uncertain, but knew that this was probably their only chance of finding somewhere to live.

They walked for about 15 minutes till they arrived at the small flat by the sea. Kevin opened the front door and Connor and Imogen stepped in.

"It's perfect…" Imogen said as she looked around.

"Well it's yours if you want it." Kevin smiled, gesturing for them to go and look at the bedrooms.

"Seriously mate, this has to be the nicest thing anyone has ever done for us. Thanks." Connor said to Kevin.

"Well that's what friends are for. Here are the keys… call me if there are any problems."

"Maybe see you both at school sometime this week if you're up for it." Dynasty said as she walked out of the front door with Kevin.

"Well… that was unexpected." Said Imogen.

"We actually have somewhere to live now!" She hugged Connor.

"It's going to be so great, me and you together. My beautiful wife." He smiled, making Imogen giggle.


	9. 9 - Shopping and Revelations

He leant in for a kiss but Imogen pushed him away.

"There will be plenty of time for that later Con, but now we need to get some stuff in for the flat. Fancy going food shopping?"

"I've hardly got any money." Connor replied, "But I'm sure we could make do with what we have for now."

They went to Tesco's and bought most of the things they would need to get started in the flat. Paying at the till, Imogen nudged Connor.

"Looks like your Mum hasn't got any better since we last saw her." She said, glancing towards the tired looking English teacher who was purchasing wine, vodka, and what looked like every other bottle of alcohol in the supermarket at the self service checkout a few metres away.

"Oh, great. I'm ashamed to even call her my mother. She better not see us." Connor said, turning the other way so his mother wouldn't see his face.

"I know she's done you wrong a few times, but it might be useful for us to be friendly with her again. After all, she could definitely help us financially. We need more money."

"Done me wrong a few times? Imogen are you serious? You're always saying that she ruined my life, and I wouldn't want to start fires if she hadn't screwed me over so many times."

"Okay, I'm sorry… but we do need money. We have a flat but if we go to school we won't have any time to get a job, and we need something to buy food and stuff."

"That's true… but she's never going to lend us any money is she?"

"It's worth a try. We should probably talk to her before she drinks that lot." Said Imogen, pointing at the numerous bottles in Christine's shopping basket. It was too late. Christine had seen them, and giving them an evil look she stormed out of the shop with her bags full of drinks that were no doubt her closest thing to a friend right now. Christine had vowed never to drink her again, but finding out about the marriage really shook her, and one glass of wine turned into one bottle, which turned into one bottle of vodka, which turned into 2 bottles of vodka every night. She couldn't stop, and wasn't planning on trying to anytime soon.

Connor and Imogen didn't say much on the bus journey home, it was clear that Connor was really still upset about the fact that Christine was drinking again. When they arrived home and were unpacking the food however, he started talking.

"I really want her out of my life Imogen, but it's just too hard. We're going to end up seeing her all the time and… and I really don't know what to do…" As Connor finished his sentence his voice started to croak, and Imogen saw a tear roll down his cheek.

"Listen Con, I know how upsetting this must be for you, but forget about your mum for a minute, there's something more important we need to talk about. Connor…" Imogen sighed. "I think I might be pregnant."


	10. 10 - Back to school

Connor looked up at Imogen, and he stopped putting away stuff under the sink and stood up. He stared at her.

"Please say something Con…"

"I… What..." Connor stuttered. "Are you sure you're definitely pregnant?"

"Well I haven't done a test yet, but I'm late… and I don't know if you heard me throwing up this morning…"

"Oh god." Connor said shaking his head. He pulled Imogen into a tight hug and kissed her gently on her head. "You know that I'll be here for you, yeah? Whatever happens, I'll always be right here babe."

"Yeah." She whimpered into his jacket, breathing in the smell of him that she had become so familiar with.

"Do you want to do a test Im?"

"I think it's a good idea, we need to be sure." She smiled weakly at her husband. As amazing as he was, he was not ready to be a father yet.

"I'll go out and get one. You get some rest, ok?" He smiled at her; he didn't want to tell her how nervous he was feeling, because she was probably feeling about ten times worse. He had to be strong now, he thought to himself. _She needs you right now. Don't ruin this._

He returned about 20 minutes later and was greeted by Imogen at the front door. He pulled a box containing a pregnancy test out of his pocket and passed it to Imogen, who nervously accepted it, and Connor could see her hands were shaking.

"Right" murmured Imogen, "Better get this over with then." She walked towards the bathroom and closed the bathroom door behind her. She emerged a minute later with the stick in her hand.

"Well?" Asked Connor, intrigued.

"Be patient Con, it takes a couple of minutes." She replied. "Can you take it?" She passed the test to him and he held it in his hand. She bit her fingernails, a habit she always gave into when she was feeling nervous. She'd never been this nervous before in her life.

After a minute or so of complete silence, Connor looked at Imogen.

"It's positive…"

"I knew it would be…" She mumbled.

"So, what are we going to do?" He asked.

"I don't know… what can we do?"

"Well, we're going to have a baby… I guess."

"We don't have too, you know."

"What? There's no way you can have an abortion! It's my baby too you know!"

"It's my body Connor! I can do what I want!" Imogen shouted, getting infuriated at her Husband. "Look, I'm sorry. I just don't know what to do." She suddenly burst into tears and threw herself on Connor's chest. He held her in his arms as she sobbed into him.

Connor took Imogen into the living room and sat down with her on the sofa.

"We don't need to decide yet you know. We can leave it for a bit, go back to school, get back into our normal routine and see what we want to do then. Yeah?"

"Yeah. Okay." Imogen whispered.

Two days later they turned up to school. They had not been gone for all that long, but there wasn't a day without drama at Waterloo Road. Michael had split up with Christine after her vicious outburst, and decided to move away to find a new teaching job, as he needed 'space'. Christine had been appointed head, but the school was still being funded by Lorraine. Of course, Lorraine had no idea that Christine had been drinking just that weekend, or that she attacked Imogen.

Imogen walked in school hand in hand up to the gate, and found Kevin and Dynasty standing just by the entrance.

"Hey guys, how are you liking the flat?" Dynasty chirped up.

"Yeah, it's amazing. Thank you so much for letting us live there. It means so much." Said Connor. He nudged Imogen to say something.

"Yeah… it's really great, thanks." Imogen mumbled.

"You alright babe? You look a bit pale." Dynasty asked.

"When doesn't she?" Laughed Kevin. Dynasty obviously didn't find it funny and slapped his arm.

"No, I'm fine, honest." She smiled. She would have to tell Dynasty at some point, just not yet.

They all walked to registration together.

"Ah Connor, Imogen!" Audrey welcomed them as they walked into her classroom. "You two have finally arrived. Connor I think Mrs Mulgrew would like to see you in her office. She's been worried sick about you!"

"Wait, what do you mean office?" Connor asked, presuming she had meant to say classroom.

"Wait… do you not know?"

"Know what?"

"Your Mother was appointed head the other day! Isn't that wonderful!" Audrey smiled, hoping that the good news would cheer the boy up, who, from what she could tell, was looking a bit depressed. It didn't cheer him up. He left the classroom immediately and rushed down the corridor to the Head's office.

He burst open the door.

"Connor!" Christine ran up to the boy, and gave him a massive hug. "I've been worried sick about you, I'm so glad you're ok."

"Get off me Mum! I don't want to speak to you after the way you treated Imogen! And how did you manage to get the heads job if you've been drinking again?"

"I can explain Connor. I'm really sorry about what happened, it was a one off a-"

"One off? Don't lie to me Mum, I saw you buying loads more drink at the supermarket just yesterday."

"I know Connor, but when I got home I threw it all away. I realised I was never going to get you back if I kept drinking. You can check if you like, when you come home. I swear Connor I've changed. It's never going to happen again. Please come home."

"What about Imogen? We've found somewhere to live and we're happy there."

"What? Where?"

"Chalky's old flat…"

"What?! Connor that's illegal! Does Chalky know you're staying there?"

"No, but-"

"Then you definitely can't stay there. I really overreacted at Michael's house. Imogen's a lovely girl and I would love to have you both living at our house. And I would pay for both of you as well, until you find jobs."

"Wait, seriously Mum?"

"Yes seriously! Think of it as me apologizing for the way I treated Imogen."

"Well, I'll have to ask Imogen. But thanks Mum." He smiled and hugged Christine. He still had a lot of unanswered questions; but needed to find out first what Imogen thought about the idea of moving in with Christine. He still wasn't sure if he would be able to forgive his mother.

**A/N: Hey! Sorry for the slow updates, but I have a lot of other work to do over the summer. I hope you guys are still enjoying this! I'm enjoying writing it but I'm not really sure where to go with this pregnancy storyline. Would you guys like Imogen to keep the baby or do something else? Please review and let me know so I know what to write next. Thanks! **


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